The final push…

Some of you may remember earlier on this month me blogging about the Pampers Big Kiss campaign, and how a click could save a life? Well the campaign is on the home straight now, the final run, the last big push. Yesterday I found my notes I had made on the day we visited UNICEF HQ in London and thought I would share with you a few bits I had noted down which I wanted to remember. Now if you saw my notes on paper you would see why this is hard to put on screen in any logical order, its a mess quite frankly! So here are a few bullet points!

The vaccine for tetanus has been around for 80 years already.

The 2010 target for vaccines given will be 40 million.

The point of the campaign is that its things Mums do already (ie buy nappies, laundry powder, washing up liquid)

The vaccines are designated by looking at three key figures. The under 5 mortality rate, Absolute child population and the GDP (Gross domestic product) of the country.

In newborns death from tetanus and other illnesses usually occur within the first 7-28 days of life.

Money that is donated to UNICEF is held in the strongest currency to give it the highest value and stays in there for as long as possible.

Countries that need the money such as Haiti, Pakistan etc work wit an overdraft which UNICEF ten pays off.

If the country is in such a state that it doesn’t have a reliable currency etc then a UNICEF dollar can be used.

Donated money can be traced in blocks and show exactly what it was spent on down to a towel, mosquito net etc.

When buying vaccines UNICEF will buy from countries with lower GDP’s who need the economy/money such as buying from Angola rather than France.

If required factories will be built where required and locals employed.

Copenhagen holds the main stockpile of vaccines.

In places of risk UNICEF can back the vaccine and then repay rather than do so upfront, if there is a risk of it being used elsewhere/sold on etc.

So as you can probably tell from those snippets of information it was a thoroughly interesting day into the workings of UNICEF and what they do and how they operate. We were able to speak with people who have been on trips to Haiti with Robbie Williams, and those who have had colleagues trapped in areas of serious conflict.

There are so many charities around the world that do such amazing work and UNICEF is just one I know but for this one month we are asking you to CLICK, that’s all. And by clicking you are donating a vaccine. A vaccine that will save a life somewhere around the world where it is desperately needed by those children at risk of losing their life to tetanus. One baby dies every nine minutes from Newborn tetanus. That is one baby too many as far as I am concerned.

Than Than Khine (UNICEF)

UNICEF provided us with numerous case studies which made for fascinating reading on how these vaccines are getting out there into the field, where they are needed. One was of Than Than Khine a midwife who helped vaccinate 300 women and children in a village in Northern Rakhine State, MYANMAR (Near the bangladesh border). The women are aged between 15 and 45 but it hasn’t been an easy task to get them to sit in that classroom awaiting their vaccination. Than Than Khine goes on to explain . “Before, women here don’t come to receive vaccination because they don’t know the benefits of it. So I had to mobilize them by explaining that this vaccine prevents tetanus, a shield for infectious diseases. Then, gradually they accept and come to receive the vaccination.” Not only do UN
ICEF give these vaccines they first have to help educate the women as to why they need the vaccine in the first place, quite often they fear that it is something bad they are being given and so refuse it.

With your click people like Than Than Khine will be able to continue their work giving those that need the vaccine the opportunity to be one less figure that might be affected by Maternal and Newborn tetanus. But they cant do that without your assistance. These vaccines dont just appear from thin air. And equally if we all thought, “Well my click isn’t important, someone else will click” Then there would be no vaccines to give would there? UNICEF need YOUR click.

Urbanvox.net has created a video which the the lovely ManicMammy and In My Own Write have kindly narrated so please do take a look at their hard work and see the Pampers One Pack = One Vaccine campaign in action.